There are seasons throughout life, ranging from joyous occasions
to deepest grief and everything in between.
The highs are high, and the lows are low. And even in the season of the school of hard knocks, there is always a lesson to learn.
Scripture does not hide the highs and lows of the men and women we read about. From Moses’ amazing rescue from certain death in Egypt as a baby, all the way to leading the Israelites out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land, it is all recorded for us.
There in black and white—
the good and the bad,
the beautiful and the downright ugly—
and every season is one from which we can learn valuable life lessons.
In Exodus 17, the Israelites, as Rod Matoon notes, have been enrolled in
Faith 101 and Trials and Tribulations 401.
The bonds of slavery had been broken by the great Jehovah, and the Exodus had begun.
But like all classes, one must apply themselves, learn, study, participate, and eventually take the test.
So far, the Israelites aren’t making very good grades.
And so the lesson—and the testing—resumes again in the desert at Rephidim.
Exodus 17:1:
“Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.”
Here they go again.
A problem presented itself, and now something must be done.
Previously, God had rescued His people, parted the Red Sea, provided manna and quail, and made the bitter water at Marah sweet.
But now they are presented with a dire situation. There is NO water. This is serious.
As the story goes, the people grumbled,
Moses prayed, and the LORD gave him instruction:
Go before the people, staff in hand, strike the rock, and water will flow.
But notice something important.
The people were exactly where God had commanded them to be.
Led by the pillar of fire and the cloud, God had brought them to this desolate place.
They were positioned right where He wanted them to be.
Have you ever been in that transitional, desolate place where God led you?
Perhaps you were facing a hard decision.
A character trait that needed to be dealt with.
A trial of patience; of financial hardship.
A hurt that needed forgiveness.
What was your response?
Did you shrink back and begin to wallow in the circumstances,
or did you look back at the past faithfulness of God and make your need known to Him?
Verses 2 and 7 give us a little further insight into what was happening.
They were demanding that God prove Himself,
while God was using the wilderness to prove what was in them.
I have walked through seasons of my own life with these same questions.
God, where are You?
Why is this happening?
Why have You brought me to this hard place?
This is when we find ourselves enrolled in the School of Hard Knocks. This is our class of Faith 101 and Trials and Tribulations 401.
God uses these hard places to teach us, test our faith, and deepen our trust in Him.
A recent conversation with a friend reminded me that it is when we look back at the faithful hand of God that we learn to trust His character.
When we don’t feel God’s presence or see His hand,
we can begin to question His good character and His good intentions toward us.
We begin to ask, just as Israel did:
“Is the LORD among us or not?”
This is when the School of Hard Knocks can become a place of doubt and despair.
That doubt can become a kind of spiritual blindness—
an age-old tactic of the enemy that reaches all the way back to the Garden
causing us to question the character of God.
But when we remember God’s faithfulness in the past—
the provision, the leading, the guiding, the protecting—
we begin to see our present circumstances from a different perspective;
Yielding peace over anxiety.
Patience in the waiting.
Joy even in affliction.
And a deeper trust in the sweet fellowship of our God.
As I have thought about this story, I have wondered what the people were thinking and why their trust was so weak.
Looking back at the fresh miracles they had experienced should have strengthened their confidence in the tender care of God.
And how I have found myself in these pages—
failing to look back at God’s faithful hand,
wallowing in my circumstances at times,
grumbling and complaining,
and questioning God’s good character.
A trial should not cause me to say, “God, You are trying to harm me.”
But rather, “God, where are You taking me?”
Let’s not miss the opportunity, while enrolled in the School of Hard Knocks, to learn the lesson.
The God who was faithful before will be faithful again.
First Thessalonians 5:24 reminds us:
“He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.”
He will never lead us to a place where He is unwilling to sustain us.
No matter how desolate our desert, He remains faithful.
The next time the School of Hard Knocks comes around,
don’t miss the lesson in the hard place.
Look back. Remember His faithfulness. Trust His character.
And you, my friend, just might pass the course with a shining A.
For more devotional content, visit the weekly devotional page for archives
Leave a Reply